rness, led Baron out into the yard, and proceeded to
put him into the shafts in quite a professional fashion. She looked over
all the straps, fetched the whip, donned the garments which Wendy had
brought, and proclaimed herself ready.

"We'll go out quietly by the back way," she chuckled. "Open the gate;
that's a mascot!"

There was nobody to say them nay, so in a few minutes they were trotting
briskly along the Glenbury Road. Diana was a capital little Jehu, and
held the reins with a practised hand. Baron, perfectly conscious of who
was driving him, behaved admirably. The girls felt their spirits at
high-water mark. They had certainly scored over the rest of the school,
and secured a superior jaunt to anybody. Moreover, it was a pleasant
afternoon to be out. The weather, which for some days had been damp, had
changed to windy. Long, dappled mare's-tail clouds stretched across the
pale November sky, and every now and then the sun shone out between
them. The glory of the autumn tints had been blown away, but the
infinitely intertwined, almost leafless boughs of the woodlands had a
beauty apart from foliage. Bushes covered with crimson masses of hips or
haws foretold a hard winter; birds twittered restlessly in the
hedgerows; and the withered leaves came whirling along the road with a
scurrying, rustling sound as of the little footsteps of innumerable
fairies. A seed-vessel of the sycamore, flying like a miniature
aeroplane, struck Diana full in the face. She picked it up as it fell on
her coat, and put it in her pocket.

"I shall keep it as my mascot," she said. "It was evidently meant for
me, so it will bring me luck. Do you believe in luck?"

"Very much, sometimes, but I don't often have any."

"We've got it to-day, though. Baron's going splendidly. I think the wind
excites him. You wouldn't believe he'd been out every day this week.
He's as fresh as a daisy. What's the time? I can't get to my watch."

"Quarter past four."

"Gee whiz! We must hurry ourselves. We've to be waiting at the station
by half-past. Baron, can you put on a spurt?"

They were bowling along a good macadam road and down hill, so that Baron
did not object to the extra strain put upon his legs. The spire of
Glenbury Church loomed ahead; in a few more minutes they began to see
the roofs of the houses. They crossed the bridge over the river, turned
the corner by the King's Arms Inn, and were trotting at a good pace
along Castle Street, when s